Business Of Architecture Uk Podcast

Are you being compensated both in recognition and money for the enormous value you bring to the table as an architect? Do your clients clearly recognize your value? Can they articulate it? Can YOU articulate it?  Often there is a misalignment between the perception of us as architects and our clients in terms of the value of our services.  It is a basic question, our services are valuable, but how valuable? And how much of that value are you capturing? It isn’t uncommon for design professionals to have their fees questioned and examined by clients, be price-shopped, and compete with other firms on fee alone. This creates a working pressure that decreases the quality of work and creative innovation, not to mention stress and business problems for practitioners. Ultimately, any commercial transaction is a transaction of value. Each party exchanges something of value for something they value more. Often, we think of value exchange in terms of money, but money is merely a representation of value, not value itself

This week, I am speaking to Seán McAlister, one of the Co-Founders of Seán and Stephen, an architectural practice based in East London who specialize in residential, public work, art installations, residential development, co-working spaces, as well as temporary museum installations, and high street regeneration projects. Many architects that I speak to are looking at new ways of evolving their business models. Sean has done exactly that with the creation of the company Pencil and Brick, a one-stop-shop design and build company where Seán has taken on wearing the hats of project manager, contractor. In this episode, he talks to us about many of the constraints that he experienced whilst delivering residential projects, both from the architectural design side and from the contractor team's side, and how Pencil and Brick seeks to solve many of these constraints.    THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at htt

This week, I'm speaking with Simon Pitkeathley. Simon is the CEO of the business improvement district, Camden Town Unlimited and the Euston Town, as well as being the CEO of the Camden Collective and the Camden Highline.  He's also the Co-chair of the Cross River Partnership and the Chair of Camden Giving.  Simon sites on the London Enterprise Action Partnership, otherwise known as LEAP, and is its Champion for Small Busines. During the pandemic, Simon was seconded to the Mayor's Covid Business Forum and the London Transition Board where he chaired the business reopening strategy group. He now sits on the London Recovery Board and is now leading the Camden Highline project since its inception in 2017. In this conversation, Simon and I discuss what Camden Town Unlimited is, how it operates, how it aids and facilitates business growth and us, as architects role in placemaking, and how they are facilitating this project, Camden Highline.  Simon talks about how that operates, what the Camden Town Limited does, an

This week, I'm speaking with Jane Middlehurst, one of the founders of HomeNotes - a learning platform that teaches and helps people navigate the often complex and stressful process of home renovation. Jane is an Architect and RIBA client adviser who set up Poulsom Middlehurst in 2012, an architectural practice specialising in residential architecture, with her Co-Founder Amy Poulsom.  After both becoming parents at the same time, they took a step back from their practice and set up HomeNotes as a new venture where they are now using their experience as architects and practice owners to make the home renovation process less stressful, less risky, and more enjoyable for homeowners. In this episode, Jane tells us the story behind HomeNotes, how it started, the factors that compelled them to jump into this new venture, and how their desire to help clients through the process of home renovation developed into full-blown learning platform.  Jane also walks us through the client experience, why there's distrust in t

This week, I'm speaking with Jason Geen and James Ewen of Apt. Jason started his career at Ellis Williams where he worked on The Stirling Prize-nominated Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, then working at Stanton Williams and YRM, before joining Apt in 2011. At Apt, Jason is a Director, Studio Leader, and member of the Board. He has been instrumental in the development and growth of the company to an Employee ownership Trust in 2018 and provides strategic direction and design overview across the practice's portfolio of projects, encompassing several sectors, typologies, and scales. Jason is an active member of the London Arts scene, having recently completed tenures as a trustee of several arts-based institutions. He has also been a board member of the Bloomsbury Festival and was recently invited to join the esteemed jury for the Architecture MasterPrize in 2021. James joined Apt in 2013. He is a Trustee Board member, Project Leader and contributes to the strategic development of Apt and its culture. He has

This week, I'm speaking with Ackroyd Lowrie co-Founder and Director, Oliver Lowrie. Prior to starting Ackroyd Lowrie with partner Jon Ackroyd, Oliver spent 10 years working at Architype where he was responsible for developing a modular, timber-framed construction system that was used by several London Boroughs to deliver new Primary Schools and Nurseries. He studied at Sheffield University for his Part 1, and Oxford Brookes for his Part 2, and completed his training at Westminster in 2012. He regularly lectures on sustainable design at Nottingham University and has tutored at Oxford Brookes. Oliver's work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy as part of the Urban Utopias exhibition and has been published in Blueprint and FX Magazine. In this episode, Oliver shares his experience in running a fast-growing architecture practice, how investing in advisers early in the practice had paid itself back many times over, their approach to nurturing client and contractor relationships, and how they are optimizing ever

This week, we have strategic partner and coach Britta Siggelkow of THINK:BUILD and architect James Hampton, Founding Director of New Makers Bureau. Britta is an accredited professional coach and consultant, and an experienced architect in the built environment, whose career has taken her around the world including Australia, Germany, and the UK.  In 2018, she founded THINK:BUILD, a coaching and consulting practice, created to give architects and designers the time and space to see their practice holistically.  James has worked for a number of leading architecture practices including Will Alsop and Studio Egret West, where he led the Park Hill project, Europe’s largest listed building, winning the Architect’s Journal Retrofit award and reaching the RIBA Stirling prize shortlist. James co-founded a combined architecture and landscape practice, Periscope, in 2015 prior to founding New Makers Bureau in 2020,  He has lectured both in the UK and internationally and is currently teaching at the Bartlett Master's sch

This week, I’m speaking with Tania Ostanina, User Experience Designer for LexisNexis. Tania had a fully-established career in architecture, reaching up to a senior associate role, before deciding to shift gears and take on human-computer interaction design. In 2019, she took her Master's degree in Human Computer Interaction, and has been awarded the Outstanding Project Prize by the Department of Computer Science at City University for her dissertation on harnessing persuasive technology and mobile app design to foster effective climate change communication. As a UX designer, she is currently working on the user experience of a suite of B2B, highly-specialised, subscription-only digital publishing products for LexisNexis UK as well as helping drive discovery and innovation. In this episode, we discuss what is UX, how her foundation in architecture benefitted her career in UX Design, what are the parallels and main differences between UX and architecture design, and what are some lessons that architects could b

This week, I’m speaking with Rodrigo Moreno Masey, Founder and Director of Moreno Masey Architecture Studio.  Rod is a qualified architect and a member of the RIBA and ARB. He has worked on a wide range of projects, specialising in residential developments, private houses, concept and boutique restaurants, office spaces, bars, and hotels. Graduating from Bartlett in 1999, he cut his teeth in West London at high-end bespoke residential firm, Michaelis Boyd before setting out on his own in 2007. In this episode, Rod walks us through the firm's inception, the growing pains, their team development and client acquisition strategies, and their shift to a more systematic approach in designing journeys for their projects, clients, and teams. THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/call Rod's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodmorenomasey/ Moreno Masey: https://morenoma

This week, I’m speaking with Doug Johnson, Director and Founder of Mesh Energy, an independent renewable energy consultant firm aiming to radically improve the chances of sustainable building project success. Doug is the first "Meshling," a chartered mechanical engineer, author, and has over a decade of experience in the sustainable design and delivery of low-energy buildings. Having initially started in the high-end bespoke home market, Doug’s experience now covers projects from £250K to £20M across a wide range of building sectors. In this episode, we discuss the services Mesh Energy offers and how they contribute and enhance the architectural vision. We also discuss the future of sustainable design and how an integrated approach can keep risks down and make for a more robust and effective implementation. THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/call Doug's LinkedI

This week, we welcome back Sue Austin of Sue Austin Consulting and Juliette Mitchell of Architypal. Sue has 30 years of senior and director-level experience in large and small scale organizations and, for the last five years, has worked exclusively with owners of architecture practices and design studios, helping to address the complex challenges of running a business. Juliette runs a writing consultancy for architects, helping architects find their voice and tell better stories by guiding them through the writing process and unlocking the power of words not just for marketing but also in articulating their vision. In this episode, we discuss the discovery process in developing your vision, the role of a strong story and narrative in the goal-setting process, defining the culture and purpose of your business through your values, and some strategies or tactics that can help bring these values to life.   THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you want to speak dire

This week, I’m speaking with Stefanie Sword-Williams, self-promotion expert, author, and Founder of the global movement, F*ck Being Humble. Stefanie spent 7 years working in advertising, becoming an expert in storytelling before writing the book and starting the movement F*ck Being Humble as a way to teach and encourage people to tell their own stories and change how the world views self-promotion. Originally started a side hustle, F*ck Being Humble is now a global consultancy, online community, helping thousands of people around the world with communicating their worth, selling themselves, securing their careers, and launching businesses. Following its success and impact, F*ck Being Humble has delivered talks to clients such as Google, Warner Music, Unilever, ASOS, The Guardian, The BBC, etc, and has attracted considerable media coverage. Stefanie was also named as Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2020 and nominated by The Dots as one of the 100 women who are changing the creative industry. In this episode, Stefani

This week, I’m speaking with Viviano Villarreal, the Founder of the architecture and design studio of Mass Operations with offices in Hong Kong and Mexico. Graduating from Tec de Monterrey in Mexico with a degree in architecture and a Masters in Design Theory and Pedagogy from SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, Viviano has had quite a bit of a journey, career-wise and geographically, traveling the world while working and collaborating with diverse architecture firms within the USA, Mexico, Chile, The Netherlands, Denmark, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. And prior to establishing Mass Operations, Viviano worked for the Dutch firm OMA from their Hong Kong branch office. Viviano is also in academia, having been an under-grad professor of Architecture at the Taller Vertical workshops with Architect Agustin Landa in Tec de Monterrey as well as a repeat guest lecturer at ITESM and UDEM Universities. In Hong Kong, Viviano has been a repeat guest critic at student reviews for both HKU and CUHK Universities. In this episode, Vivan

This week, we have Dave Sharp of Vanity Projects, one of the gurus of marketing for architects. He's got a Master's degree in architecture so he understands the thinking and the mindset of architectural practices. He is a lover of all things social media, digital marketing, strategies. In this conversation, we get really tactical. We go into a number of different ways of how architects can be generating referrals, how they can be powerfully using social media, paid-for-advertising, and really be able to increase the number of referrals that you're going to be getting in your practice. We discuss some of the problems that architects typically face with marketing, some of their obstacles, challenges, and some of the mindsets as well that often keep us from fully engaging with the marketing side of our business.   THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/call Dave's Linke

This week, I'm talking to Baranowitz + Kronenberg, an architecture and interior design firm of Irene Kronenberg and Alon Baranowitz based in both Amsterdam and Tel-Aviv. For the last 20 years, they've developed an incredible portfolio of hotels, restaurants, public and commercial spaces that have been very popular with their target demographic. Alon had studied at the Pratt Institute in New York prior to setting up the firm. Irene had graduated from the Technion School of Interior Design in Tel-Aviv in 1981. In this interview, they talk about how the partnership formed, how they successfully navigate being a husband and wife partnership as well as partners in business, which I know many architecture and design firms have that husband and wife relationship. It can be a really powerful frame and connection and a way of doing business, as well as a unique set of obstacles and challenges. They discuss how they develop long-lasting relationships with clients, how they are winning work in those early days, and many

This week, I am speaking to Stephen Drew founder of Architecture Social, an online platform filled with fabulous content, resources, and tools to help young architects (and old architects) find new jobs and stand out from the crowd. In this episode, Stephen discusses how he came up with the idea and how he has been nurturing that platform. Stephen is a trained architect. He has a degree in architecture and his Part II from the Manchester School of Architecture. He then worked in practice for a while but found himself moving towards the recruitment consultant world, something more fitting to his personality. He documents, in this conversation, how that transition occurred and what his current positions have been. Today, he is the Head of Talent at Ackroyd Lowrie, and he is involved in helping architecture practices find the best talent possible. THIS WEEK'S RESOURCES Join Architecture Social's community: https://www.architecturesocial.com/ Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ If you wa

This week, I spoke to James Tait who is an architect, an author, and an educator. James was the winner of the internationally-renowned RIBA and RIAS Silver Medals in 2008. Since then, he's gained considerable experience as an architect, leading a broad spectrum of high-profile projects at some of the best practices in the UK. James is the author of a new book called "Entering Architectural Practice," which is published by Routledge. He's also authored another book called the "Architecture Concept Book," which was published by Thames & Hudson. In this episode, we focus on the themes that were emerging from Entering Architectural Practice. We discuss the growing gap between education and practice, and what universities can be doing to bridge that gap better. We also look at the roles and responsibilities of how practice can be bridging that gap back to university, making architecture education more valuable and more integrated into what you do as a professional. There were also a lot of very interesting top

This week, I'm speaking to Shevaughn Rieck who is one of the partners at Farrells. Shevaughn started her career at Farrells as Part I and is now one of four partners who are delivering the succession plan of the world-famous practice. Shevaughn goes into a lot of detail about how her career has been nurtured at Farrells. She talks about the story of becoming a partner and that career path. She talks about the future of Farrells, how they're moving and changing their brand. They've been, for a long time, known as a master-planning company, and, actually, the work that they do is far-reaching into many different project typologies and sectors. She talks about the new stewardship. We discuss the connection between the profession and education, and Farrells role in that and how they nurture long-term relationships with team members, and how they attract talent. We discuss how Farrells win work and organize marketing strategies and the importance of site experience for developing a career. We get a lot of insights

This week, I have the pleasure of speaking to the Group Managing Partner at Grimshaw based in Sidney, Mark Middleton. Mark joined Grimshaw's London studio in 1996. He had been working for British Rail and Transport for London and has since worked on a variety of projects in different sectors like leisure, ecotourism, commercial, property, and transportation. He has been a pivotal character in providing leadership and creative direction to many of the practice's award-winning rail and aviation projects. Mark has been instrumental in establishing Grimshaw's preeminent position in these sectors. He worked on many large-scale projects such as Heathrow Terminal 2B, Pulkovo Airport, station redevelopments over at Paddington and the Fulton Center. Most notably, Mark was partner-in-charge of a £1 billion London Bridge redevelopment project completed in May 2018 and nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize. Mark also led the design for the Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, which won the Lubetkin Prize prize in 2007. M